Strategic Alliance between ICAR and NDDB to Strengthen Research, Innovation, and Extension

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has entered into a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to enhance collaboration in multidisciplinary research, innovation, and capacity building across the entire dairy sector. The partnership spans key areas including dairy production, processing, and value addition, with a strong emphasis on empowering its primary stakeholders—millions of dairy farmers across the country.

The MoU was signed by Dr. Raghavendra Bhatta, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), ICAR, and Shri S. Regupathi, Executive Director (Operations), NDDB, in the august presence of Dr.Mangi Lal Jat, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Govt. of India and Director General, ICAR, and Dr. Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB.

Dr. Mangi Lal Jat, Director General, ICAR, highlighted the importance of complementary research by breaking institutional silos. He emphasized the need for integrated farming systems and expressed his satisfaction that the MoU would pave the way for a structured partnership to address complex challenges such as climate resilience, low productivity, and value chain development. He also advised adopting gaushalas to curb the menace of stray cattle and to develop sustainable models for manure management and biogas utilization. He further highlighted the critical importance of fodder in enhancing livestock productivity. Dr. Jat noted that all these initiatives would be driven by the latest innovations and modern technologies emerging from ICAR institutes.

Dr. Meenesh C. Shah emphasized that the partnership has the potential to create one of the world’s largest platforms for integrated scientific collaboration in pursuit of the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat.’ He noted that NDDB has previously worked with ICAR institutes on several missions, including ration balancing, mineral mapping, and total mixed ration initiatives. He highlighted opportunities for mutual collaboration in ethno-veterinary medicine and expressed NDDB’s readiness to address emerging challenges in the livestock and agriculture sectors in the national interest. He further stressed the aim of developing scalable and replicable models across diverse agro-climatic zones of the country. Additionally, he pointed to areas of cooperation across the value chains of fruits and vegetables, oilseeds, fodder, milk, and milk products.

The MoU aims to synergize ICAR’s scientific and research expertise with NDDB’s extensive field-level experience and robust institutional capabilities to address emerging challenges throughout the dairy value chain, particularly at the grassroots level.  The collaboration places strong emphasis on knowledge sharing, technology development and validation, human resource development, and the conduct of joint training programmes for researchers, professionals, and farmers. The MoU is expected to facilitate the effective translation of research outcomes into practical, field-level solutions, thereby enhancing productivity, profitability, and sustainability across the dairy sector.

The event was graced by the presence of senior officials and distinguished representatives from both ICAR and NDDB.